More on Torres del Paine

Tent wrestling at Grande Paine camp...it is windy here.

The camps we stayed at in order of nights are: Las Torres, Seron, Dickson, Los Perros, Paso, Grey, Grande Paine, Italiano (plus hike into the valley), Los Cuernos, Las Torres (2 nights, so we had a day for the hike up to Mirador Los Torres which took us about 6:30 hrs total). This should give you an idea of the hike we did when you consult the map in previous post.

Some chasms had ladders

Each camp has its own feel; they are all quite different from each other, really. Well, they do have the wind in common :) Some have refugios/huts along with the campground, while others were rather basic like a cooking shelter - or not. Some are free and some you pay to stay. Refugios vary greatly, from the hotel-style feel with bar and restaurant at Grande Paine to rather rustic and small at Dickson. For dinner we ate at some of the refugios and invariably I had pork roast for dinner. Jan´s vegetarian option ranged widely in quality. In any case dinner is a set menu 3-course meal.

A rare orange sunset at Los Cuernos

Some camps have small stores. These are very basic at best. Even though all of the facilities are operated by the same company throughout the park, they stock different things in each. The main themes were various kinds of chocolate, crackers, juice powder and salami. We found peanut butter at Grande Paine and bought the jar - a happy moment! It´s tricky to totally rely on the stores for nutrition, especially if pork roast is not your thing.

In our case we started the hike with about 5 days worth of food. Lots of weight to start but well worth it! We were also happy to find 5-minute risotto at the Unimarc in Punta Arenas; it made for great breakfast food.

Proof we got the tent up ... and awesome view of Grande Paine

At Mirador Las Torres :)))

Proud locals keep telling us how Patagonia is "el otro Chile"

If you are thinking of coming down here, we wholeheartedly recommend you consider getting ready for the full circuit (the O) followed by the W.
It takes some backcountry skills to do on your own, but there are guided, horse or porter versions you can get onto as well, to help you out if needed.